When doctors in Warsaw asked a 59-year-old woman questions, she sometimes answered by singing religious songs. At other times, she broke into them on her own. The cause was a recurring brain tumor, and the singing faded each time surgeons cut the tumor back.
Her case, published in February 2026 in Psychiatria Polska, is one of the more unusual examples of a much larger idea: damage to specific parts of the brain can change religious and spiritual behavior. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital have tried to map where in the brain that happens, using data from nearly 200 patients with brain injuries.
A Tumor That Brought the Singing Back
The patient was treated by neurosurgeons and endocrinologists at the Medical University of Warsaw, working with psychologists from the University of Warsaw. She had a craniopharyngioma, a rare, noncancerous tumor that arises near the pituitary gland. Hers extended upward into the third ventricle, a fluid-filled space surrounded by the hypothalamus.
She had already had surgery at another hospital. When the tumor regrew and her mental disorder returned, the Warsaw team noted that "she was singing religious songs spontaneously or in response to questions." Testing also showed problems with memory, attention, planning, and motivation.
After surgeons removed most of the tumor, she went home without psychiatric symptoms. Two years later, she was back with both the same mental disorder and renewed tumor growth. After a second operation, her mental state improved, and two months later her family reported that the behavioral problems had resolved completely.
That pattern, symptoms fading after surgery and returning as the tumor grew, is what led the authors to tie the behavior to the tumor. They concluded that the "psychiatric manifestation of craniopharyngioma might be associated with dysfunction of suprasellar structures, namely the hypothalamus," and that surgeons should remove as much tumor as safely possible in such cases.
A Brain Circuit Linked to Spiritual Belief
The Warsaw report focuses on one patient. The question of how brain injury reshapes belief has been studied far more broadly.
In a study published in 2021 in Biological Psychiatry, a team led by neuroscientist Michael Ferguson and neurologist Michael D. Fox of Brigham and Women's Hospital's Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics analyzed two very different groups. The first included 88 people who completed a personality questionnaire before and after surgery to remove a brain tumor. According to a Brigham summary, 30 reported decreased spiritual belief afterward, 29 reported increased belief, and 29 reported no change. The second group included 105 Vietnam War veterans with penetrating head injuries.
Using a technique called lesion network mapping, which traces how damaged spots connect to the rest of the brain, the researchers found that "brain lesions associated with self-reported spirituality map to a brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal gray." That brainstem region has been implicated in fear conditioning, pain modulation, and altruistic behavior. The Brigham summary adds unconditional love to that list.
The direction mattered. Lesions affecting one part of the circuit were tied to decreased spirituality, while lesions affecting the opposite part were tied to increased spirituality and religiosity. Published cases of hyper-religiosity after brain lesions lined up with the side linked to increased belief. Lesion locations known to cause delusions and alien limb syndrome, in which a person feels a limb is acting on its own, also intersected the circuit.
The researchers were careful about what this means. Brigham noted that the results do not imply religion is a delusion, and Ferguson told reporters that the findings "should not be over-interpreted." The data also came largely from patients raised in Christian cultures.
Where This Case Fits and Where It Does Not
It would be a leap to say the Warsaw patient's tumor struck the same circuit. The Psychiatria Polska report does not describe her religious history or whether her beliefs changed, and it points to the hypothalamus rather than the brainstem. The Brigham study measured self-reported spirituality, not singing or other outward behavior.
What the two lines of research share is a basic message. Religious and spiritual expression, often seen as purely personal or cultural, can shift when specific brain structures are damaged. In this woman's case, a behavior that might have been dismissed as eccentric turned out to track the size of a tumor.
That matters for families and clinicians. A new, uncharacteristic behavior in midlife, especially one that comes with memory, attention or personality changes, can be a reason to look for a physical cause in the brain.
A Rare Tumor with Outsized Effects on Behavior
Craniopharyngiomas are very rare. The National Cancer Institute estimates that about 600 people in the United States are diagnosed each year. The tumors do not spread, but because they grow near the pituitary gland and hypothalamus, they can cause hormone imbalances, vision damage, and cognitive problems. The NCI also lists personality and behavior changes among possible symptoms in children. The NCI notes that tumor tissue left behind after surgery almost always starts to grow again, which is part of why this woman's case unfolded over years.
Her doctors say psychiatric symptoms have rarely been reported as the main sign of this tumor. A single case cannot show how often religious singing or similar behavior occurs, but it offers a vivid example of how a change in behavior can be the first visible clue to what is happening inside the skull.
People who notice sudden or unexplained changes in a loved one's behavior, thinking or personality should encourage them to see a clinician, who can decide whether brain imaging or other testing is needed.
Key Questions Answered
What happened to the woman in this case?
A 59-year-old woman in Poland with a recurring craniopharyngioma sang religious songs spontaneously or in response to questions. The behavior resolved after surgery and returned when the tumor regrew.
What is a craniopharyngioma?
It is a rare, noncancerous tumor near the pituitary gland and hypothalamus. Because of its location, it can affect hormones, vision, thinking, and behavior.
Can brain damage change religious beliefs?
A 2021 study of 88 tumor surgery patients and 105 veterans with head injuries linked changes in self-reported spirituality to lesions in a brain circuit centered on the periaqueductal gray.
Did this woman's tumor affect that circuit?
That is not known. Her doctors attributed her symptoms to dysfunction of the hypothalamus, and the report does not describe changes in her beliefs.
Do these findings mean religion comes from brain damage?
No. The researchers cautioned against over-interpreting the results, and Brigham noted that they do not imply religion is a delusion.
When should behavioral changes prompt medical attention?
Sudden or unexplained changes in behavior, memory, or personality, especially in midlife or later, are worth raising with a clinician.
Published by Medicaldaily.com
